Enduring a list of injuries to a handful of their best players, the Chicago Bulls closed out the Brooklyn Nets in Game 7 on Saturday night. Quite frankly, I’m not sure how they came out of Brooklyn with a victory. The dismantled Bulls team was on the road, seventh and final game of the series, missing both forward Luol Deng and guard Kirk Hinrich, led by an injured center Joakim Noah, and their only true superstar — former MVP guard Derrick Rose — has been almost as valuable as their cheerleaders. The interesting factor, though, is that Chicago now has to fly to Miami and play a dominant team that has not only been at rest for over a week, but is also walking into a series with a jaw-dropping 41-2 record in their last 43 games.

I’ll let that soak in for a moment.

Last season, Chicago strolled into the playoffs with the top seed, for the second year in a row, but Rose’s ACL tear in his left knee ended all hopes of a deep playoff run. Fast forward to one year later, to a Bulls team that ended Miami’s outstanding 27-game winning streak without Rose on the court, meeting that same team in a best-of-four series. Fully healthy, it’s still unlikely that Chicago makes it happen, but things get very interesting with Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau game-planning for Heat forward LeBron James.

#2 New York Knicks (54-28) vs. #3 Indiana Pacers (49-32)

We’re in for a great match-up between forwards Carmelo Anthony and Paul George. There are only a few guys who have defended Anthony better than George throughout his career, and this season, Carmelo is shooting just 37.9 percent against this Pacers team.

Consequently, the workload on the defensive end limits the offensive energy output we see from George, who already struggles to score the ball as a primary scoring option for the Pacers, thanks to forward Danny Granger’s injury. Indiana’s top-ranked defense does quite a number on teams, but back down the court, the Pacers run on simple, basic basketball to, undesirably, lower their offense into the bottom 10 of the league.

Offense versus defense. Fast-paced, uptempo scoring with a superstar player will match up against a slower halfcourt team that likes to capitalize off of their defensive stops and their inside-out game.

Against the Rockets, the Thunder struggled to put points on the board when forward Kevin Durant went cold from the floor, or while he was being denied the ball multiple possessions. Westbrook’s absence put pressure on forward Serge Ibaka and guard Kevin Martin to carry larger scoring roles, and both had trouble delivering at that magnitude, especially Martin, for most of the series.

With Memphis on deck, Oklahoma City will need to excel in two key areas: defending the Grizzlies’ big men, and knocking down perimeter shots. Durant’s biggest challenge of his career may not have been in the 2012 NBA Finals, but in a series against a Memphis team that can throw two exceptional defensive players at him, one being arguably the best perimeter defender in the league (guard Tony Allen) and the other an experienced, longer defender that still has the ability to make life tough for perimeter scorers (forward Tayshaun Prince).

#2 San Antonio Spurs (58-24) vs. #6 Golden State Warriors (47-35)

Are the Warriors the most exciting team in the league right now? Even in Oklahoma City, you may not be able to find a louder, rowdier crowd than what you see in Oracle Arena during the playoffs. In addition, I can only assume it doesn’t help when a player, like guard Jarrett Jack, is playing like an all-star out of nowhere. How would that be significant to the Warriors in this upcoming series against the Spurs? Let’s take a look at Jack’s playoff numbers in the 1st round series against the Nuggets.

18.8 PPG on 52.6% FG, 5.2 RPG, 7.0 APG

What if Jack produces those all-star numbers in the 2nd round? All things come with an explanation, though, because Jack’s two “bad” games of the series were the first and last: the only two games he did not start.

Let’s not forget guard Stephen Curry, who is out to prove he’s a legitimate all-star that should have been voted as such back in February. His 24-point, nine-assist average is combined with nearly 47 percent shooting, 43 percent from downtown, and a perfect 100 from the foul line (21-21).

In fact the only chance the Spurs have of beating the Warriors is their inexperience.

But matchup wise it's a nightmare for the Spurs.

In order to win Pop is gonna have to straight up out coach Mark Jackson and the Warriors are gonna have to blow a lot of opportunities.

If that doesn't happen the Spurs have no chance.

Like I said, ain't no way they can allow Goudelock and Morris to score 40+ together on the team will I ever expect them to be able to stop Curry and Thompson. Those two stay on and that series is over.

Spurs only hope is if the Warriors blow the games themselves. Matchups wise the Warriors have an answer in every single position against the Spurs that's either even or better.

They can't rest their starters against the Warriors either like they could afford to against us.

How long are they gonna last having to play heavy minutes against the younger more athletic Warriors team.

There's experience and then there's heck no.

This is bridging on heck no over 7 games of it unless the Warriors blow it with their inexperience.

Spurs have a small chance but again, it only happens if the Warriors blow it.

They should beat the Spurs in 6 or less otherwise.

The kind of effort it's gonna require from the Spurs to beat the Warriors 4 times is gonna be very draining, will they be able to last?

It's a moot point unless the Warriors blow the games themselves due to inexperience.

Edited by Majesty, May 06, 2013 - 08:18 PM.

"Bryant had come to rage against the idea that Howard's clownish disposition could overtake the locker room, the Lakers' culture, and had warned Howard that he would never, ever let it happen."

I know it kills you, but to win the title you need to know the playoff environment. The deeper you go, the more vital that becomes. There's a reason predominantly young teams don't win the cup... ever.

I didn't see enough from the Spurs against a depleted Lakers team both before and after Steve Blake was gone to convince me that they are gonna beat the Warriors as easily as some of you seem to think

What did you want them to do, beat them by 30? Those games were over by the end of the 1st half and they cruised, just like plenty of the Lakers' "moral victories" this season. The Heat had a harder time against the Bucks.

I agree that you can't really tell how they'll do going forward against good teams because they dominated a bad team, but you can't discredit them because of that.